Holy and Without Blame - All The LORD is near Daily Devotionals for 2024

Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.
Ephesians 1:4 NKJV

Holy and Without Blame
The character of God Himself is depicted in that which is ascribed to the saints. God could find His moral delight only in Himself and in that which morally resembles Him. Indeed this is a universal principle. An honest man can find no satisfaction in a man who does not resemble him in this respect. With still greater reason, God could not endure that which is in opposition to His holiness since, in the activity of His nature, He must surround Himself with that which He loves and delights in. But, before all, Christ is this in Himself. He is personally the image of the invisible God. Love, holiness, blameless perfection in all His ways, are united in Him. And God has chosen us in Him.

In this verse we find our position in this respect. First, we are before Him: He brings us into His presence. The love of God must do this in order to satisfy itself. It is there only that perfect happiness can be found. But this being so, it is needful that we should be like God. He could not bring us into His presence in order to take delight in us, and yet admit us there such as He could not find pleasure in. He has therefore chosen us in Christ, that we should be holy, without blame before Him in love. He Himself is holy in His character, unblamable in all His ways, love in His nature. It is a position of perfect happiness in the presence of God, like God; and that, in Christ, the object and the measure of divine affection.

So God takes delight in us; and we, possessing a nature like His own as to its moral qualities, are capable of enjoying this nature fully and without hindrance, and of enjoying it in its perfection in Him.

-- J. N. Darby